Football quick facts
- FIFA recognises cuju, played in ancient China from about the third century BC, as the earliest recorded form of football.
- The Football Association wrote the first Laws of the Game in London in 1863, and the clubs that wanted to carry the ball left to create rugby.
- The word “soccer” is British student slang for “association”, not an American invention.
- American football’s line of scrimmage and system of downs were both the work of Walter Camp, from 1880.
- Spain beat Argentina 1–0 to win the 2026 World Cup, the first with 48 teams and three host countries.
One word, two different games
Say “football” in London and people picture eleven players kicking a round ball into a net. Say it in Dallas and they picture helmets, shoulder pads and an oval ball carried in the hands.
Both are correct. The first game’s proper name is association football, and most of the world simply calls it football. In the United States and Canada it is usually called soccer, because the country already had a sport called football of its own.
The word soccer is not an American invention, which surprises a lot of people. It started as British student slang. Students shortened “association” to “assoc.” and then stretched it into “soccer”. Britain later dropped the word. America kept it.
Where football began
People have been kicking things about for a very long time. The oldest version anyone can prove is cuju, which was played in ancient China from about the third century BC. FIFA, the body that runs world football, recognises it as the earliest form of the game with written records behind it.
Cuju started as training for soldiers. Players kicked a stuffed leather ball through a hole in a net strung between poles, using any part of the body except the hands. By the Han dynasty it had escaped the army barracks entirely and become a sport that ordinary people watched and played.
Other places had their own kicking games. Japan had kemari. Ancient Greece and Rome had rough ball games. Medieval England had village matches that could involve hundreds of people and no rules worth the name.
The day the rules were written
The problem with all those games was that everybody played them differently. Two schools could not play each other without arguing first about whether you were allowed to pick the ball up.
That ended on 26 October 1863, in a pub in London. A group of clubs met and formed the Football Association, and over the following weeks they wrote the first Laws of the Game. Handling the ball was out. The clubs that wanted to keep carrying it walked away and eventually created rugby instead.
Those laws are the reason football spread so fast. Once everyone agreed on the rules, any team could play any other team, anywhere.
How association football works
Eleven players a side, one of them a goalkeeper. The goalkeeper is the only one allowed to use their hands, and only inside the marked penalty area. Everyone else uses feet, head, chest or thighs.
A match is two halves of 45 minutes, so 90 minutes in total, plus a few minutes the referee adds on at the end of each half for time lost. Whoever puts the ball in the other team’s goal more often wins. Scores are low. A 2–1 result is a normal afternoon.
The rule that confuses newcomers most is offside. In short, you cannot stand behind the last defenders waiting for the ball to be passed to you. It exists to stop players camping by the goal, and it forces teams to move up the pitch together.
| Association football (soccer) | American football | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it started | England, 1863 | United States, from 1869 |
| Players on the pitch | 11 a side | 11 a side |
| Playing time | Two halves of 45 minutes | Four quarters of 15 minutes |
| Ball | Round | Oval, pointed at both ends |
| Hands | Only the goalkeeper, in his own area | Everyone, all the time |
| Pitch | About 100–110 m long | 120 yards including the two end zones |
| Typical score | 2–1 | 24–17 |
How American football works
American football grew out of the same root. The first game between two colleges was played on 6 November 1869, when Rutgers beat Princeton 6–4 in New Jersey. It used rules borrowed straight from the London Football Association, and it looked far more like soccer than like the game today.
The man who changed it was Walter Camp. In 1880 he replaced the messy rugby scrum with the line of scrimmage: the two teams line up facing each other, and the team with the ball starts the play by snapping it backwards. He then added the system of downs.
Downs are the heart of the game. The attacking team gets four attempts, called downs, to move the ball ten yards forward. Manage it and you get four fresh downs. Fail and the other team takes over. That is why you see officials carrying a chain onto the field to measure.
Points come in four sizes. Carrying or catching the ball in the other team’s end zone is a touchdown, worth six, followed by a kick worth one more. A kick through the posts at any other time is a field goal, worth three. Tackling the other team behind their own goal line is a safety, worth two.
The World Cup and the Super Bowl
The FIFA World Cup is the biggest single-sport event on Earth. The first one was held in Uruguay in 1930 and it has run every four years since, apart from a gap for the Second World War.
The 2026 tournament was the largest yet. It was hosted by three countries at once — the United States, Canada and Mexico — and 48 teams took part instead of the usual 32. Spain beat Argentina 1–0 in the final in New Jersey on 19 July 2026, with Ferran Torres scoring in extra time.
Brazil have still won the World Cup more times than anyone: five. The Women’s World Cup has run since 1991 and has grown just as fast.
American football’s big night is the Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League. The NFL began in 1920. The Super Bowl is now one of the most watched television programmes in the United States every year, halftime show and all. In 2021 the poet Amanda Gorman read before the game, the first poet ever to do so.
Playing it yourself
You need almost nothing to start. A ball and a flat space will do, and two jumpers make a goal.
For soccer, practise three things: passing with the inside of your foot, keeping the ball close while you run, and using your weaker foot on purpose. The last one feels terrible for about a month and then pays you back for years.
For American football, start with catching and throwing. An oval ball only flies straight if it spins, and getting that spin takes practice.
Either game is good for you. Running about for an hour works your heart and lungs harder than almost anything else you will do that day. If neither game appeals, basketball will do the same job indoors.
Play somewhere open, away from roads, with an adult who knows where you are.
Records worth knowing
The heaviest defeat in a professional match was 149–0, in Madagascar in 2002. It was a protest: one team deliberately scored own goals after a disputed refereeing decision the week before.
The first footballs were made from animal bladders, usually a pig’s, sometimes with a leather cover stitched over the top. They soaked up water, went out of shape and were very unpleasant to head.
Mario Zagallo of Brazil won four World Cups, two as a player and two with the coaching staff. No one else has managed that.
Things people get wrong
“Americans invented the word soccer.” British students did, from the word “association”. Britain used it for decades before dropping it.
“Football was invented in England.” The modern rules were written in England in 1863. The game itself is thousands of years older than that.
“American football is just rugby with padding.” They share an ancestor, but the line of scrimmage and the four downs make it a completely different sport. Neither of those exists in rugby.
Did you know? The worst defeat in professional football was 149–0, in Madagascar in 2002. Every goal was an own goal, scored on purpose as a protest against a referee’s decision the week before.
Try it
Time yourself keeping a ball up with your feet, then try again using only your weaker foot. Write both numbers down and test yourself again in a month.
Knowledge check
Why does the word “football” mean two different sports?
Show answer
Both grew from the same old kicking games. England wrote rules for the kicking version in 1863, and the United States developed a carrying version from 1869, and both kept the name.
What is a down in American football?
Show answer
One attempt to move the ball forward. A team gets four downs to gain ten yards. If they make it, they get four more. If they do not, the other team takes over.
Frequently asked questions
Who invented football?
Nobody invented it. Kicking games go back thousands of years, and the oldest with written records is cuju in ancient China. What England did in 1863 was write the first agreed set of rules.
Why do Americans call it soccer?
Because their own sport was already called football. The word soccer came from British students shortening “association” to “assoc.” Britain later stopped using it and America did not.
How long is a football match?
Association football is two halves of 45 minutes plus added time. American football is four quarters of 15 minutes, although stoppages make the real match much longer.
Who won the 2026 World Cup?
Spain. They beat Argentina 1–0 after extra time in New Jersey on 19 July 2026, with Ferran Torres scoring the only goal.
Which country has won the most World Cups?
Brazil, with five. The tournament has been held every four years since 1930, apart from a break for the Second World War.
What is the offside rule?
You cannot be nearer the other team’s goal than the last defenders at the moment the ball is passed to you. It stops players waiting by the goal and makes teams move up the pitch together.
Sources
- FIFA: 2026 World Cup final — the result, the scorer and the date of the 2026 final
- The Football Association: our history — the founding of the FA in October 1863 and the first Laws of the Game
- Rutgers University: the birthplace of college football — the first intercollegiate game on 6 November 1869 and the 6–4 score
- Britannica: Walter Camp — the line of scrimmage in 1880 and the system of downs
- Pro Football Hall of Fame: 1869 — the early college game and how American football separated from soccer
- Britannica: football (soccer) — the laws, the offside rule, pitch sizes and the history of the World Cup
